Barclays Bank customers in the UK will no longer be able to transfer funds to Binance, as it has banned any payments made by credit or debit card to the exchange until further notice. 

Replying on Twitter, the London-based bank said: “It’s our responsibility to help protect your money.” It added: "With this in mind we’ve taken the decision to stop payments made by credit/debit card to Binance until further notice, to help keep your money safe.”

Customers received a phone text message from the bank to alert them about the move.

In a series of Tweets, Binance responded saying that it was “disappointed to learn that some partners are taking unilateral action to stop servicing Binance users based on what appears to be an inaccurate understanding of events”.

Regulatory ban

The announcement from Barclays comes after the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said Binance Markets Limited was no longer allowed to carry out cryptocurrency operations in the UK.

“No other entity in the Binance Group holds any form of UK authorisation, registration or licence to conduct regulated activity in the UK,” the regulatory body said in a statement. 

“The Binance Group appear to be offering UK customers a range of products and services via a website, Binance.com. This firm is part of a wider Group (Binance Group)”, it added.

At the time, Binance said the Financial Conduct Authority's notice had no direct impact on the services it provides via the Binance.com website.

Barclays is not the first bank that has blocked payments to crypto trading platforms. Last month, NatWest also put a limit on daily transfers to cryptocurrency exchanges due to fraud concerns.

"We have seen a high level of cryptocurrency investment scams targeting our customers across retail and business banking, particularly through social media sites,” a NatWest spokesperson told Reuters.

Fellow UK bank TSB also said it was looking to ban cryptocurrency purchases due to fraud concerns. 

Further reading: Binance issues clarification about FCA trading ban